Korn At Download Festival: “They Still Mean Every Word”

Do Korndo bad festival sets? Certainly not at Download this year, according to Gav Lloyd. Here's what

KORN ARE IN THE FORM OF THEIR LIVES AT THE MOMENTThey've had plenty of ups and downs over their lengthy career, but after they gave Slipknot a run for their money while supporting them last year (which is no mean feat in itself), today has a similar feel. They sound monstrous on the main stage, and confirm that they're on fire right now.

THIS IS THE PERFECT FESTIVAL SETYou know those bands that get all pretentious and don't play the hits at festivals? Korn are not one of those bands. Today is a banger-thon that spans their entire back catalogue. It takes balls to drop a song like 'Blind' half way through their set, but it doesn't matter when there's still plenty of massive jams like 'Y'all Want A Single' and 'Got The Life' in their arsenal.

THEY STILL MEAN EVERY WORDKorn may have been doing this a while, but today's setlist is delivered with as much fire as when they were young twenty-somethings. Frontman Jonathan Davis in particular looks suitably unhinged throughout.

THIS BAND ARE A TRUE BUNCH OF MISFITSMany may have tried (and failed) to emulate Korn, but this band is truly one of a kind. Watching the long-haired, dreadlocked me flail around stage, feels like a real victory for the underdogs. These guys were the freaks and the misfits in their classrooms and they've gone on to became a band who lay waste to massive stages at gigantic festivals. There's not many frontmen who can get a massive cheer from bringing out bagpipes.

THEY'RE DETERMINED TO STAY CURRENTAs is to be expected from the guys hang out with Skrillex (and with Jonathan Davis undertaking a dubstep side-project under the J Devil moniker, this is a band that are determined to stay relevant. The electronic interludes between songs make this feel like far more than a trip down the Nostalgia Avenue.

IT'S A REAL SHAME THEY'RE NOT HEADLININGIn the brief few years when Donington wasn't hosting festivals between the demise of Monsters Of Rock and the birth of Download, Korn were filling arenas all over the UK. Sadly, it feels like they might just missed their chance at being a festival headliner in those years and have been relegated to the second from top spot. The fact that their run through of Metallica's 'One' sounds more urgent and fierce than the original band's version speaks volumes, and on the whole this is a set that will give any Download headliner a run for their money.